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Awesome Inventions
Learn about some inventions and quiz your classmates.

1. Discuss
A. Discuss the following with a partner.

1. What is the most useful invention in your lifetime?

2. How often do you use it?

3. What would your life be like without it?

Photo by Ola Dapo

B. Match the things with the year in which you think they were invented.

…… 1630 …… 1870 …… 2737 B.C. …… 200 B.C.

…… 1500 B.C. …… 1826 …… 1888 …… 1873

1. paper 5. the hamburger

2. jeans 6. tea

3. scissors 7. ice cream

4. matches 8. the toothbrush

2. Reading
A. Read the paragraphs and fill in the gaps with one of the inventions above.

1. The first made from wood was produced in China in about 200 B.C. It was used to
protect mirrors and medicine as well as for writing. The Chinese cannot take all the credit for its invention,
however, as writing material made from the papyrus plant was used by the Egyptians as early as 400 B.C.

2. The history of food changed forever when, in 1888, American Fletcher Davies put some ground meat between two
slices of bread and invented the . Today, these tasty sandwiches are one of the world’s
most popular foods, especially in America, where an average of three burgers are eaten by each person per week.

3. Though many people say that Europeans invented , there is historical evidence to prove
that the Egyptians were using them to cut hair as early as 1500 B.C. Nearly four thousand years later, they are still
one of our most useful household items and are found in homes, offices, and, of course, in hairdressers all over the
world.

4. American businessman Levi Strauss changed fashion forever when he created the first pair of
in 1873. These blue pants were originally used by workers and were dark blue in color to make dirt less visible.
200 years later, they are one of the world’s most popular fashion items and are worn by men, women, and children
of all ages.

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 B. Answer the questions about the inventions you read about.

1. What did the Egyptians use to write on? 3. What were scissors first used for and by whom?

2. How many burgers does the average American eat? 4. Why were jeans a dark color?

3. The Passive Voice

A. Read the information and decide if the sentences are in the active voice or passive voice?
Use the passive voice when you want the focus to be on the object of the sentence. It is also used when the person who
performs an action isn’t known or isn’t important. When used in the present simple and past simple tenses it is
constructed as follows:

Object Past participle Agent

a. Jeans are worn by people of all ages.

b. The papyrus plant was used by the Egyptians.

1. Europeans invented scissors. active / passive

2. Scissors were invented by Europeans. active / passive

B. Fill in the gaps with inventions from Part 1B and the verbs in brackets in the correct passive
form.

1. Though people had been enjoying cold desserts since as early as the 15th century, it wasn’t until 1630 that the first
real a. made from milk b. (create) by King Charles of
England’s chef, Gerald Tisain. Four centuries later, it is one of the world’s most popular desserts, especially in the
USA, where an average of 10kg c. (eat) by each person every year.

2. Some of the world’s greatest discoveries were completely accidental, and a. were one
of them. They b. (invent) by British pharmacist John Walker in 1826, when the stick he
was using to mix chemicals caught fire. This discovery changed history and made lighting fires a lot easier for many
people. By the mid 19th century, these wooden sticks were c. (produce) in factories all
over Europe.

3. Although people have been cleaning their teeth in various ways for thousands of years, the first modern style
a. b. (not / create ) until 1870, when Englishman William
Addis attached pig hairs to a cow bone and used it to brush his teeth. Today, these brushes are used all over the
world, though thankfully they are c. (make) with different materials.

4. a. is another invention which happened completely by accident.

It b. (discover) by the Chinese emperor Shen in 2737 B.C., when leaves from a nearby
tree dropped into a pot of boiling water which was being prepared by his servant. Today, over 6 billion cups of this
drink c. (drink) per day and it is the world’s most popular hot beverage.

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 4. Trivia Quiz
A. Complete the facts using one of the verbs in the box in the in the correct passive form and
a person or a country. Place a bet between one and five in the ‘bet’ column, depending on
how sure you are that your answer is correct, five if you’re very sure, one if you’re not very
sure.

…… discover …… climb …… find …… paint (2)

…… write (2) …… direct (2) …… hold …… speak
…… design …… grow …… win (2) …… invent

Ukraine Antonio Gaudi Christopher Columbus WIlliam Shakespeare

Steven Spielberg Leonardo Da Vinci China Sir Edmund Hillary

Vincent Van Gogh The UK Colombia France

Leo Tolstoy Brazil George Lucas Galileo Galilei

Bet Points

1. The Wimbledon Championships in

2. Jurassic Park and Jaws by

3. Mt Everest by

4. The 2022 Eurovision Contest by

5. The Starry Night by

6. Star Wars by

7. War and Peace by

8. Portuguese in

9. The Mona Lisa by

10. America by

11. La Sagrada Familia by

12. The 2018 FIFA World Cup by

13. 10% of the world’s coffee in

14. The telescope by

15. Hamlet by

16. Pandas in

Total:

B. Listen to your teacher read the correct answers. If your answer was correct, write your bet
in the points column. If your answer was incorrect write your bet with a minus sign. Add up
your points.

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 C. Write facts about different countries using the passive voice.

In this country...

1. (food) (eat)

2. (products) (export)

3. (language) (speak)

4. (holidays) (celebrate)

5. (currency) (use)

6. (animals) (find)

7. (monument) (visit)

8. (sport) (play)

D. Read your sentences and see if other students can guess the countries you are describing.

5. Conversation
A. Complete the questions using the past participle form of the verbs in the box.

…… speak …… eat …… make (2)

…… give …… watch …… install
…… allow …… play …… wake

1. Who was your breakfast by this morning?

2. How many calls were on your phone yesterday?

3. At what time is dinner usually in your house?

4. What types of television shows are by your family?

5. How many apps are on your telephone?

6. How many languages are in your home?

7. What gifts were you for your last birthday?

8. What are some things that you aren’t to do at home?

9. At what time are you usually by your alarm every morning?

10. What types of computer games are by you and your friends?

B. Ask your partner the questions about. Continue the conversation by asking follow-up
questions.

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